Sunday, February 28, 2010

Seminar on Propagation of Islam ;
Sufi Movement became dormant with the decline of Muslim power in India. With failure of armed resistance against the British and Sikh-Hindu combined, the followers of hard line Sufism were forced to adjust with the ground reality of non-Muslim occupation of Indian sub continent but did not reconcile with it. The failure of "Sepoy Mutiny" and consolidation of British power in Indian subcontinent was a further jolt on the radical Islamists but all the Islamic revivalists movements like Deoband, Aligarh, and Pakistan movement drew their inspirations from the anti-Hindu syndrome of Sufi saints like Sirhind and Shah Wal Ullah. Khilafat movement and subsequent Pakistan movement were the outcome of the jehadi interpretation of Walli Ullah brand of neo-Sufi jehad against the political domination of non-believers. The resistance of Muslims against the British and subsequently against the Indian National Congress was due to deep and hard line influence of Shah Wali Ullah over them.

Before the failure of 1857 Sepoy Mutiny Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan was a follower of the neo-Sufi cult of Shah Waliullah. But he gradually distanced himself and firmly rooted in the Indian islamic mysticism that he was deply pained after the collapse of Sepoy mutiny of 1857.He therefore took up the challenge of and wanted to take up the revolutionary path by educating the Muslims in European education but he did not distanced himself frm the Wali Ullah and bacame a supporter of Two Nation theory.His philosophy was a synthesis of progressive and orthodox Islam.

According to Allama Iqbal, he was the first Muslim to feel the urge for rethinking the whole system of Islam without, in any way, breaking away from the past.
Iqba was a known follower of Islamic mysticism of Quadirriyya order. He synthesised the mystin ideology of Wali Ullah and the modern view of Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan.
The concept of Tawhid (unity of God) on the basis of Sufiism was a tool of political conflict with the Hindus. Its apparent Secular ideas accepted by the hindus were not reciprocated by muslims.Had sufism, as commonly, been viewed as a secular attempt to adapt Islam in hindu tradition, the philosophy of two nation theory would not have been merged.

Mystic interpretation of Islamic life within the bonds of religious orthodoxy is known as Sufism, which was initially launched by God fearing people of Perso-Arab world. They renounced the world and devoted themselves to His service. As the seekers of Tawhid (unity in God) they helped in Spread of Islam through Mystic movement with intellectualisation of Sunnah (the Orthodox custom of the Islamic world)as one of its basic principles.The Sufis either in their life time or in their tombs after death became a symbol of supernatural power with metaphysical features ascribed to them under the Guidelines of Quran and Sunnah. The disciples of Sufi adopt the path of peace or even armed jehad for Shariatisation of the whole world as a mission of holy duty.
Mysticism is a practical spiritual discipline based on the the insight of illuminted seekers after after truth.
Contrary to the spiritual mission of sufism, the cult was primarily introduced in India for spread of Islam with a view to help the Muslim rulers for political domination.By and large the spiritual successors of mystic islamic saints enjoyed the royal favour of Muslim rulers and gave moral support to the atrocious Muslim invaders and looked other way to ignore the growing social conflict. they also guided the state in political affairs with their experience of regular interaction with common people.
Sufi saints commonly viewed as symbol of secularism , however, never opposed Jejiya (tax imposed on non-believers) levied on Hindus in Islamic India.Their deeply rooted belief and practice of Islamic norms within perso-Arabic traditions remained the bedrock of the mystic movement . Therefore, instead of advising the Muslim marauders against their inhuman deeds , the sufis overlooked the plight of Hindu priests and saints , who were forced to flee and hide themselves.During the period of Sultanate in India these mystics were supposed to guarantee the prosperity to islamic kingdom.

Moinudin Chisti dargah, Ajmer,India In the 9th century when the Abbasids were in decline, Sindh was slipping out of their clutches, India came to be Known as a faraway land whose inhabitants were on par with those of Rum and China. They were regarded as one of the most civilized communities outside of Islamic rule.By the time the Abbasid Caliphate felt there were many orders that had sprung up across the Muslim world , founded by eminent Sufi scholars.To spread Islam Sufis played a very important role.

The Sufis belonged to different tariqas (orders). In India Chisti orders are most viable. The sufis unorthodox approach towards Islam made it easier for Hindus to prctice. Hazrat Khawaja muin-Ud-di Chisti etc trained sufis for the propagation of Islam in different parts of India.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

After the Prophet passed away, Abu Bakr (r.632-634) and then Umar I(r.634-644) were elected Caliph, His worldly successor. During the reign of the latter, the Raabs conquered Syria, Palestine, Egypt, part of North Africa, and began their assault on Iran. A six-man council then offered the caliphate to Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, but with conditions he could not accept.The Caliphate then passed to Uthman(r.644-656), who completed the overthrow of the Sassanids in Iran in 651 and established the Murjiah movement within Islam.He decreed that non-Arabs could become Muslims if outwardly they obeyed Sharia law and accepted the rule of the Caliph. Only Allah, however, could judge their inner piety. Uthman was eventually assasssinated by the faction that suppoerted Ali. Civil war caused in which first Ali and then the eldest son , Hassan, were murdered after briefly holding the Caliphate. Mu'awaiya, the prophet's brother-in-law and leader of the supporters of Uthman, finally triumped , declaring himself the first Caliph (r.661-680) of the Umayyad line (661-750). he shifted the capital from Mecca to Damascus, while the rival claim to the Ccaliphate fell upon Ali's younger brother , Husayn. The earliest contacts between the Muslim Arabs and Budhists in central Asia occurred shortly thereafter. The Badshahi Masjid, literally the 'Royal Mosque', was built in 1674 by Aurangzeb. It is one of the Lahore's best landmarks.Islam arrived in the area , British India, now known as Pakistanin 711 CE, when Umayyad dynasty send a Muslim Arab army led by Muhammad bin Qasim against the ruler of Sindh, Raja Dabir, this was due to the fact that Raja Dahir had given refuge to numerous Zorostrain Princes who had fled the Islamic conquest of Iran.Muhammad bin Qasim's army was defeated in the first three attempts. The Muslim army conquered the noth western part of indus vallley from Kashmir to to the Arabian Sea. The arrival of the Arab muslims to the provinces of Sindh and Punjab, along with subsequent Muslim Dynasties, set the stage for the religious boundaries of South Asia that would lead to the development of the modern state of pakistan as well as forming the foundation of Islamic rule which quickly spread across much of South Asia, including Ghaznavid, Ghrid, Delhi Sultanate, Mughals etc.from 1526 to 1739, Muslim technocrats, beaurocrats, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, and Sufis flocked from the rest of the muslim world to South Asia and in the land that became pakistan.From the very outset, politics and religion have been intertwined both conceptually and practically in Islam because prophet Muhammad established a Government in Madina,Through the history of Islam, from Umayyad and Abbasid to the Mughals Ottomans (1300-1923), religion and state hood have been treated as one .One of the beliefs of Islam is that the purpose of the state is to provide an environment where Muslims can properly practice their religion. If a leader fails to this the people have a right to depose him.

Pre-Islamic interaction of India and West Asia;
India and west Asia have a long history of land and sea trade between them. Commercial relations between India and Mesopotamia began as early as 3000 BCE and and between India and Egypt, through the intermediary ports of Yemen, from 1000 BCE.This is obtained from an early accountof Budhist collection,Baveru Jataka.In 255 BCE th Indian Mauryan emperor Ashoka (r.273-232 BCE), sent Budhist monks as ambassadors to establish relations with Antiocus II Theos of Syria and west Asia , Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt , Magas of Cyrene , Anigone Gonatas of Macedonia, and Alexander of Corinth. The Syrian writer , Zenob Glak, wrote of an Indian community , on the upper Euphrates riverin modern day Turkey. With the decline of Babylonian and Egyptian civilisations in the middle of the first millennium CE and the simultaneous curtailing of Byzantine sipping in the Red Sea, much of the trade between India and the west Asia.Many Indians settled in Bahrain and and at Ubla, near modern day Basrah at the head of the Parsian Gulf. The prophet's wife , Aisha , was once treated by a jat physician.Thus, muhammad was undeniably familiar with Indian culture.
As further evidence, the mid-20th century scholar , Hamid Abdul Qadir, in his Budha the Great:His life and Philosophy , said that Kifl is the Arabic rendition of Kapilavastu mentioned in Quran.

There is much evidence in History to show that Arabs and Muslims interacted with India and indians from the very early days of Islam , if not before the arrival of islam in Arabia.Many sanskrit books were translated in arabic as early as the 8th century.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Contemporary Indian Muslim :(left to Right- from top)1. Abul Kalam,2. Quarratulain Hyder, 3.M.L.Akbar.4.Irfan Haabib, 5.Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, 6.Azim Premji, 7.Zakir Hussain, 8. Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, 9. Santa Mirza, 10.Aamir Khan, 11. Shabana Azmi, 12. Sharukh khan, 13.Saif Ali Khan, 14.Salman Khan, 15.Zakir Naik.
Islam is second-most practiced religion in the Republic of India after Hinduism, with more than 13.4% of the country's population (over 138 million as per 2001 census and 160.9million as per 2009 estimate where as in Pakistan in 1998 census, the total population is 135.8 million) identifying themselves as Muslims.
Indian Muslim Population is the world's third largest and the world's largest Muslim Minority population.
Contrary to popular belief, Islam came to South Asia prior to Muslim invasions in india. islam influence first came to be felt in the early 7th century with advent of Arab traders.Trade relations between Arabia and the sub-continent are very ancient. Arab traders used to visit the Malabarregion, which was a link between themand ports of South East Asia to trade even before Islam had been established in Arabia.
According to historians Elliot and Dowsonin their book The History of india as told by its own historians, the first ship bearing Muslim traders was seen on the indian coast as early as 630 A.D. H.G.Rawlinson, in his book Ancient and medieval History of india claims that the first Arab Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century AD. Shaykh Zainuddin Makhdum's "Tufat-al-Mujahidin " alsoalso is a reliable work.This fact is corroborated by J.Sturrockin his South Kanara and Madras districts Manualsand also by Haridas bhattacharya in Cultural heritage of ndia , Vol-IV. It was with the advent of islam that the Arabs became a prominent cultural force in the world. the arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it wherever they went.
The first Indian mosque was built in 629 AD at the behest of Cherman Perumal, who is considered the first Indian muslim, during the lifetime of Muhammad (c.571-632) in Kodungallur, in the district of Thrisur in kerala by malik Bin Deenar. In Malabar, the Mappilas may have been the first community to convert to Islam because they were more closely connected with the Arabs than the others.
In the 8th century the province of Sindhwas conquered by an arab armyled by Muhammad bin Kasim. Sindh became the easternmost province of the Umayyad Caliphate.
In the first half of the 10th century, Mahmud of Gazni added the Punjab to the Ghaznavid Empire and conducted several raids deeper into modern day India. A more successful invasion came came at the end of the 12th century by Muhammad of Gho. This eventually led to the formation of the Delhi Sultanate.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Many attempts had been made by Jinnah and Congress leaders to find a solution of the strained relations developed since the 2nd half of the first decades of the twentieth century but all were in vain due to arrogant attitude of a section of persons of either of the two communities at the end of the discussion. As a result a new avenue of separate state came up in the minds of the Minorities. Important events at a glance (1857-1930)

Syed Abdul Jabbar and others of Rajputana wanted to postpone the date for annual session of AIML to save the Split.Though the reception committee was formed to hold the session at Lahore with chairman Sir Zulfiqar Ali khan and they wanted to have the session, a last moment effort was made by Ahmad Yar Khan Daultana, to save the situation, wrote to Jnnah at Calcutta,

We are extremely gratified that majority of Muslims favor separate electorates. If settlement with Hindu is possible in detail and boycott question may be discussed by both communities otherwise only by Muslims of India at full joint meeting on last saturday and Sunday in January. Pray do not hold regular session of League but as members must have arrived discuss matters only informally. If you agree same course may be followed here. Kindly save the situation.
But the reply never came.

The Leaguers at Lahore waited till the evening of 30th Dec to see the decision of the Jinnah Group and then held their session on 31st Dec 1927. As a result there were two AIML session , one at Lahore with Sir in the Chair and the other at Calcutta presided over by Maulavi Muhammad Yakub. In Calcutta session the AIML reiterated the separate electorate unless its its conditions were fulfilled. Punjab Muslim League was disaffiliated and Jinnah was elected the president for the next three years.INC in its annual session at Madras callled for an all parties conference 'to draft a Swaraj Constitution;

The all parties conference started on 12 Feb 1928 and continued till 22 Feb 1928 and formulated some proposal which were opposed by Hindu Mahasabha. The AIML, Jinnah group appointed a 13 member committee. The all Parties conference was held on 8th March 1928. But there was no agreement between the Jinnah group and Hindu Mahasabha on the point of separate province for Sindh and on reservation of ug 1928 where both Jinnah group and Shafi group remained absent. The only Prominent Muslim Leader Maulana Hasrat Mohani was present and opposed Nehru report.

The AIML, Jinnah group, held its 20th annual session.at Calcutta from 26 to 30 Dec 1928 under the Presidentship of Raja Saheb of Mahmudabad.
Jinnah moved his amandments in the open session of he All Parties Convention on 28 Dec 1928 but no progress was possible due to the opposition of Hindu Mahasabha.
Finding on other alternative, Jinnah, now, tried to explore the possibilities of unification of two groups of the League. He came to Delhi in Feb 1929 to attend the Legislative Session of the winter session. Meanwhile Sir Saffi also happened to come to Delhi. Both the leaders met and after the meeting the two expressed their satisfaction finding possibilities of unity between the groups. A meeting of the council of Jinnah group was held on 28 March 1928 which was attended by more than 60 members in the ranks of the AIML.Shafi group was also held separately their council meeting.A representative character of the two groups met and worked out the possibility of unity of the two groups.Another meeting of Jinnah Group Council was called for 23 February 1930.The purpose of the meeting was explained in a letter of secretary AIML on 15 feb,1930 and on the basis of the agreement, already arrived by the leaders, the two groups held Council meeting from 23 to 28 feb 1930.the proposal of unification was unanimously accepted. After som
On 28 Feb 1930, after Jamatul Wida Prayers, a meeting of the council of AIML members of both groups attended with President Jinnah who proposed that the two factions of the AIML were now united .Thus , the two Leagues were united after their separation over two years ago.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Malik Barkat Ali changed his position and wrote to the Jt. Secretary, AIML, on 19 Nov 1927, that "the Lahore invitation may be treated as withdrawn," However, the move was neutralized in time by Firoz Khan Noon with the support of Allama Muhammad Iqbal. On the same date Noon wrote a letter to the Secretary of the AIML on 19 Nov 1927, "that he consider the Punjab invitation as still standing and not withdrawn," Thus Muslim League of Punjab was divided ino two groups. One group was in favor of cooperation with the Simon Commission and the other opposed it.
However , in the Council meeting under the presidentship of Shafi, on 20 Nov 1927, passed resolution in favor of the Lahore faction.Malik Barkat Ali voted in favor of Sir Shafi.Assistant Secretary of the AIML, Syed Samsul Hassan, said that the AIML was taking steps contrary the course followed by Mr. Jinnah.Jinnah could not attend the meeting. Nawab Sir Zulfiqar Ali Khan , one of the vice-president, presided over the meeting. Two opinions came up after discussion.
1 The session may be held at Lahore under the Presidentship of Sir Sharif,
2. The session may be held at Calcutta under the presudentship of Hakim Ajmal Khan. But as Hakim Ajmal khan was seriously ill, his name should not be proposed.Hence since there were only one proposal of holding the session at Lahore with Presidentship of Sir Shafi, this was taken and the meetim=ng was adjourned.

Dr. Kitchlew considered the Council decision of 20 Nov, as regrettable and highly detrimental to national and communal interest.the Council requested Dr. Kitchlew to holdanother meeting to revise council decision about venue and presidentship.
Mujibur Rahman, secretary Bengal Provincial Muslim League also demanded revision of the decision.Jinnah demanded Samsul Hasan to call for a meeting 11 Dec at the Head Quarter, Ballimaran Street and asked Dr. Ansari to use his influence to secure a majority for Calcutta with Aga Khan as President.Inspite of the attempt of Sir Shafi to postpone the meeting, it was held on 11 Dec1927.Only 27 members attended Council meeting but a large number of absentee votes swang the decision in favour of Calcutta to be the venue. the previous decision was revised by 84 to 54 votes.Sir Firoz Khan noon, Dr. Iqbal , Hasrat Mohani and their follower left the meeting in disgust.The Split in the League had finally becomme absolutely clear.

In June 1927, Jinnah visited Lahore and advocated the acceptance of the proposal but met with little success. Sir Fazli Hussain strongly opposed the joint electorates. Hence , implicitly, the AIML stood divided into two camps, those who supported the joint electorates were led by Jinnah (known as Jinnah league) and those who opposed were led by Sir Muhammad Shafi known as (Shafi league) the council members of the AIMLfrom the Punjab met at Lahore under Malik Feroz Khan Noon.

A joint manifesto was issued on 23rd July 1927 thoroughly disapproving the joint electorate scheme.

On the meanwhile the question before the AIML Council (Jinnah group) was to consider the venue for the 1927 annual session , and to elect the Party President.On 8 Sept. 1927, Malik Barkat Aliand Malik Feroz khan Noon invited the AIML to hold its annual session at Lahore.Mirza Ijaz Hussain, Jt.Secretary of the AIML wrote to Jinnah on 30 Sep 1927, that there were four invitations tto consider for the League session.,i.e., Madras, punjab, UP and Calcutta.

in the mean time viceroy convened the appointment of the Statutory Commission on Reforms on Nov 1927, only five days after the commission was announced. It was to be headed by Sir John Simonassisted by six other Member of Parliament.The punjab Muslim League met and announced to co-operate with the Commission. The only opponent of the resolution were Dr. Kitchlew, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Malik Barkat Ali, and Gulam mohiuddin. this had been done before Jinnah sent his protest telegram to the Secretary of State . Thus both the groups stood divided on the issues of Simon Commission as well as the electorates.It seemed that the british govt. wanted use it as a bargaining counter so as to disintegrate the Swarajist Party. Further more through he Muslims discarding separate electorate in Delhi, Govt. had got the chance to divide the Muslims on this issueand deprived Jinnah of some Muslim backing. .

The Delhi Muslim Conference under Jinnah on 20th March 1927, took a bold initiative to give up separate electorates if their four proposals were accepted.; such as, 1. Separation of Sindh from Bombay, 2. reforms in the N.W.F.P. and Baluchistan,3. representation on the basis of population in the Punjab and Bengal, and 4. 33% seats for the Muslims in the central Legislature. The All India Congress Working Committeeat its meeting in new Delhi on 21 March 1927, recorded its satisfaction on the Muslim proposals.Hindu members of the Central Legislature also approved the joint electorates with reservation of seats on population basis in all the Legislatures but left open the vital question appreciative of the stance of M.A. Jinnahat Delhi Muslim Proposals because the Govt. thought that that the Muslim politicians in general were not ready to give up separate electorates. The Central Sikh league, termed the Muslim proposals as a step in the right direction.However the Hindu Mahasabha challenged the representative character of the INC and stressed that only the Hindu Mahasabha was the proper body to negotiate a settlement on behalf of the Hindu vommunity with any Muslim organisation.The Hindu Mahasabha held its meeting in April 1927 with Dr. Moonje ( 1872-1948) in the chair, opposed new provinces where Musims would get majority.It stressed mixed electorates with reservation of seats only for a definite period of time on a uniform bass.

The attitude of the Hindu Mahasabha forced some of the leaders of the Muslim league to revise their Delhi decision.A general meeting of the Punjab Provincial Muslim League was held at Lahore on 1 May 1927, under the presidency of Sir Shafi.He maintained that until the mentality of the Hindu Mahasabha under went a change there was no option for the Muslims but to continue to insist on the retention of separate electorates as an Integral part of the Indian Constitution.Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) also expressed his conviction that in the existing political conditions in India separate communal electorates provided the "only means of making the legislatures truly representative of Indian peoples.
The first Muslim opposition to the Delhi Muslim proposal came from the members of the Madras Legislative Council who held the view that joint electorates for Muslims in Madras Presidency particularly "will jeopardise the interests of the Muslims."
Muslim representation of Bihar and Orissa held a meeting on 8 May 1927, at Patna to consider the Delhi scheme of joint electorate. Sir Ali Imam, Maulana Shafi Daudi, Syed Abdul Aziz, Sir Fakhruddin ,etc led the opposition to the joint electorates . Bengal Muslim Conference held under presidenship of Sir Abdur Rahim at Barisal on 8 may 1927, said muslim opinion was decidedly against the joint electorates.By the Middle of may the muslims of Madras, UP, The Punjab, Bengal and Bihar had condemned joint electorates.

Monday, February 22, 2010

The year 1926 saw bitter communal riots in various parts of India, most of these riots took place in towns and cities where the Muslims were in a minority and therefore they suffered much more than the Hindus. It is reported that there were 40 riots between April 1926 to 1927 which resulted in 197 deaths and 1598 injured.These communal riots in 1926 culminated in the murder of Swami Shradhananda Saraswati in his residence on 23rd Dec 1926, at the hand of a Muslim in Delhi who had been caught red handed. This led to another round of communal disturbances. The gravity of the situation can be understood from the fact that Muhammad Yaqub (1879-1942)wrote a long letter to secretary AIML stating:

....All India Muslim League is responsible for the protection and promotion of their political rights and interests.It is not fear to keep them in darkness.Let us tell them that the league has ceased to exercise its function so that they may organize and form another political body if they choose to do so.

At the same time the All India Hindu Mahasabha (f.1906) opposed the separate electorates and condemned the Lucknow Pact of 1916.This was the communal situation in India when party meetings of Assembly members at Delhi were held on 17 March 1927, to exchange views on the direction in which modification of the system of communal representation was desirable.The Hindu members of the Assembly decided in favour of joint electorates with reservation of seats to Muslims either on the basis of Lucknow Pact or the Muslim population in each province. Many Muslim leaders like Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari (1880-1936), Abul Kalam Azad and Ali Imam(1869-1932) were willing to give up separate electorates.

The All India Muslim League (AIML) struggled through a variety of circumstances to protect the rights of Indian Muslims.Throughout its history it had to face many challenges and passed through many crisis. Huwever, AIML had to face a crucial juncture in the year 1927 when it was divided into two groups-one led by M.A.Jinnah and the other led by Sir Muhammad Shafi of Punjab.Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi, KCSI,CIE (1869-1932),was an Indian Muslim politician. He belonged to the well known Arain Mian family of Baghanpura, Lahore. He went to England to study for the bar in Aug 1889. He also took active interest in Anjuman-i-Islamia of London and was elected its president for a term.As a practicing barrister he quickly gained renown and during the 1920s and 1930s he came to be regarded as one of India's leading lawyer.
Shafi organised a Muslim association in early 1906, but when the All India Muslim league was formed, he established its powerful branch in the Punjabof which he became the General Secretar.This branch , organised in Nov. 1907, the Punjab Provincial Muslim League.He was a member of the Simla deputation in 1906. In 1909 and again in 1912, Shafi was nominated to the Provincial Legislative Council . In 1911, 1914, 1917, he was a member of the Imperial Legislative Council. He was appointed a CIE in 1916. In July 1919, Mian Muhammad Shafi , who had been elected as the President of the Chief Court Bar, became a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council during 1919-24. His tenure as Education member wasmarked by many important developments, including the setting up of the Muslim University of Aligarh. He was also acting vice-President of the Governor-General's Executive Council 1922-25. He was council's member for education , health, and later also for law, also, he was knighted in 1925 with the KCSL.

Between the beginning of April and end of Sept 1927, no fewer than 25 riots were reported. of which 10 occurred in the United Provinces , 6 in the Bombay Presidency, 2 each in the Punjab, the Central provinces , Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and one in Delhi.The majority of the riots occurred during the celebration of of a religious festival of one or other of the two communities.
By far the most serious riots reported during the year was that which took place in Lahore between the 4th, and 7th of May.it started due to the collision of a Mahomedan and two Sikhs. 27 were killed and 272 were injured.
The riots of Kharagpur , an important railway centre far from Calcutta, also resulted in serios loss of life.two riots took place in the Kharagpur.
The year 1930-31 saw the eruption of the civil disobedience movement. It gave rise to riots and disturbances all over the country.the political disturbances took a turn to communal riots in Sukkur in Sindh in 4th and 11 th of Aug.also it spread in Bengal.

In Assam , the communal riot took place in Digboi in lakhimpur Dt.resulting death of one hindu and three Muslims.in 1933-34 the communal tension was increasing through the country. on the occasion of Holy and Bakr-i-Id serious riot occurred in Ayodha.
The list of the riots were so big that Hindu-muslim unity is far from reality.

Ashutosh Varshney, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. his book, Ethnic conflict and civic life : Hindus and Muslims in India, was recently published by Yale University Press.Hindu-Muslim riots in India are understood to have occurred in two ways. One, the underlying and two, the proximate.
The underlying causes are linked partly to perceptions of history.Since the 1920s, Hindu nationalists believe that India is a Hindu-Nation-have argued that Muslims are fundamentally disloyal to India. Some also believe that the so called Muslim period of Indian history, stretching from the 11th century to the 18th century, was a period of hidu humiliation , when Muslim rulers ruthlessly attcked the pillars ofc Hindu culture, specially its temple of worship. Finally some Hindus also think that Muslims are essentially aggressive in nature, and a demonstration of superior brute strength is the only way to alter their behavior.The biggest exponent of such views are the Hindu nationalist ideologues, many of whom rule Gujrat, the state where riots broke out recently.
Such views are inaccurate and defy history. First of all, intolerant strains, specially in the form of Sufism, a mystical and non-textual variety of Islam prevalent not only in India but also in countries like Indonesia, Mughal rulers such as such as Akbar, in fact, built bridges across the two communities., handsomely contributing to the evolution of a common Indian Culture, in 20th century Maulana azad ,called " the innumerable happennings of our daily life " bear , as he put it,"the stamp of our joint endeeavour.
Moreover these riots occur mostlyin cities , in rural life only 4% of all deaths aredue to communal riots. .

Riot between two communities or ethnic groups is not a new feature. It occurs mainly due to the following reasons:
1. Socio-economic condition,

2. Interference or obstruction social or religious behavior of one over the other,

3. 3rd party involvement.

In India Hindu-Muslim relations began to strain from the first decade of 20th century after the announcement of partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon and a riot-torn history of Hindu-Muslim relations developed during 1920-1940, in-spite of the several attempts made by Gandhi and Jinnah for Hindu-Muslim unity.

The Mopla rebillion was British-Muslim and Hindu-Muslim conflict in Kerala that occurred in 1921. During the early months of 1921, multiple events including the Khilafat movement and the Karachi resolution fueled the fires of rebillion among the Mopla Muslim community . Thousands of Hindu were murdered, raped, and forcibly converted as a pert of the riots. It was the religious revivalism of the Muslim Moplas and hostility towards the Landlord Hindu Nair.Nambudiri Jenmi community and the British administrationthat supported the latter.

Malabar Coast

In the year 1921-22, communal jealously did not subside.The Muharram Celebrations had bee attended by serious riots both in Bengal and in the Punjab. In the latter province in particular, communal feeling at Multan reached very serious heights, and although the casualty list was comparatively small, a great deal of property was done.
Though the year 19222-23 was a peaceful year the relations between the two communities were strained throughout 1923-24. But in no locality did this tension produce such tragic consequences as in the city of Kohat.

The immediate cause of the trouble was the publication and circulation of a pamplet containing virulently anti-Islamic poem which caused a casuality of 155 lives and wounded many with a damage of property of rs 9 lakhs.as a result the whole Hindu population evacuated the city Kohat.

In 1924-25, in the month of July severe fighting broke out between Hindus and Muslims in Delhiaccompanied by Lahore, Lucknou, Muradabad, Bhagalpur, Nagpur, Sahajahanpur, Kankinarah.

1925-26 the antagonisms between the Hindus and Muslims became widespread in calcutta, the United Provinces , the Central Provinces andthe Bombay presidency.

The year 1926-27 was one of continuous period of communal riots. Since April 1926, every month witnessed affrays more or less serious between the two communities.In Calcutta during April 1926 , 40 riots took placeduring 12 months.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Ibn Batuta, the 14th century Tunisian chronicler who trvelled throughout the Indian sub-continent attest to the relative tolerance and peaceful coexistence amongst the two communities.In 16th century when Akbar was the emperor of the northern 2/3rds of India his closest poliitical allies were the Hindu Rajputs of Bikanir and Jaipur. This Mughal-Rajput alliance otlived his death. If contradiction between Hindu and Muslim were sharp the Mughal Empire could not last for 200 yrs.In 18th when the Mughal empire began disintegrating after the death of Aurangzeb, Kingdoms broke away from the authority of delhi and not the basis of religious differences. In fact the Indian masses had most patiently demonstrated how united they were during the first war of Independence in 1857. .

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Congress-League scheme embodied in this pact was to become the basis for the Montagi-Chelmsford reforms, also known as the Act of 1919. In retrospect, the Lucknow Pact represented a milestone in the evolution of Indian Politics. For one thing, it conceded

1. Muslim rights to separate electorates,

2. reservation of seats inthe legislature,

3. and weightage in the representation both at the centre and minority provinces.

Thus their interests were ensured in the next phase of reforms.

Moreover it was a tacit recognition of of the AIML as the representative organisation of the Muslims in India.

For allthese things Jinnah's credit was established and Jinnah became a recognised leader by both Hidus amd Muslims. Jinnah was held as the ambassador of Hindu-muslim unity at that time.

Jinnah's active political life started started from 1906 when went to England with Gopal Krishnna Gokale (1866-1915) to plead the cause of Indian self-Government during British elections..A year later he became the secretary to Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917), the then President of Indian National Congress, which was a great honour for a budding politician. In Dec 1906 at Calcutta Congress Session he also made his first political speech in support of the resolution on self-Government.

In january 1910, Jinnah was elected to the newly constituted Imperial Legislative Council. All through his parliamentary career , which spanned some four decades, he was probably the most powerful voice in the cause of Indian freedom and Indian rights.Jinnah who was also the first Indian to pilot a private members bill through the Council, soon soon became the leader of a group inside the lesgislature. Mr. Montagu (1879-1924), Secretary of State for India, for India, at the close of the WWI, considered Jinnah a "perfect mannered, impressive-looking, armed to the teeth with dialecties, "Jinnah" he felt, "is a very clever man, and itis , of course., an outrage that such a man should have no chance of running the affairs of his own country.
For about three decades since his entry into politics in 1906 , Jinnah passionately believed in and asiduously worked for Hindu-Muslim unity.Gokhale the foremost Hindu leader before Gandhi, had once said of him "he has the true stuff in him that freedom from all sectarian prejudice which will make him the best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity ; and, to be sure, he did become the architect of Hindu-Muslim unity; he was responsible for the Congress-League pact of 1916, known popularly as Lucknow pact , the only pact ever signed between the two political organisations , the Congress and All India Muslim League, representing as they did, the two major communities in the subcontinent.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Jinnah made his will in 1939 which Mr. Liaqat Ali Khan, closest associate of Jinnah and First prime Minister of Pakistan, came to learn after thr death of mr. Jinnah that he was made its trustee and executor.Prof. Akbar Ahmed in his movie of 15-20 minutes about Jinnah;s personal life.

Dina, the only daughter of Jinnah and Rittie, was born on the night between 14th and 15th Aug 1919. She was a premature child when Mr. Jinnah and Ruttie was enjoyingn a movieat a local theatre at London.Dina spent most of her childhood in Bombay and London and her schooling was done in London. Jinnah tried her daughter to be a Muslim child and gave her responsibility to Fatima Jinnah, Jinah'ssister.

But she was introduced to Neville Wadia and had a relation with him.Dina's relationship with Wadia , a parsi born Indian, strained her relation with her father.